Story time : I’ve only ever played these style of games on the phone or online back in the days. Little fun puzzle game with some leisure time. I didn’t get a physical copy of this Taito classic until 2008 and haven’t been able to play a similar game until Vizzed from the N64 versions and Super Nintendo. Well anyways I thought it’ll be nice to make a review about this particular game that brought me to this Taito mascot. This is Bust-A-Move 2 : Arcade Edition for the Sony PlayStation. (Used on emulation)

Story : N/A ????

I don’t think there is a story behind this unlike its titles before, bubble bobble. The game does have cutscenes and the intro does begin with a 3D main character, Bub, and the a 2D Bub chasing after a purple squid looking creature stealing stars but again, I’m not sure there is an actual story to the game. Basically go through stages to capture the stars stolen from the sky. Uhhh

It’s N/A I guess since reading the manual doesn’t have a story either? Anyone knows let me know. I know it’s about retrieving stars after beating the game but why were they stolen? 

Graphics : 9

The graphics are cute. You got the titular character Bubs, the green dinosaur, and his friend the blue one, as second player. You have a cast of characters that are well animated and mostly chibi style? I think that’s how you refer these? 

The intro starts off with a 3D model of Bubs walking in a moonlit grassy area that looks decent for CGI back in the days. Waiting for the intro does show a bit of gameplay and the bubbles look well designed, with each having a different pattern and color to differentiate. Then you get treated with high scores with bubbles jumping all around the screen in the background and that’s pretty neat. though one more and it’s the most perplexing, you get a little dance with the two dinosaurs with a crayon-esque background and it shows a few of the characters that you face in some stages. One caught my eye since I haven’t seen this character in the game and I don’t know whether it is or not? Someone knows please let me know. Loading times aren’t that bad either so that’s another plus. 

The stages are decent enough a bubble shooter, bubbles and the character shooting the bubbles. The backgrounds are beautiful with the beaches, Great Wall of China, eve. Icebergs and an inside of a clock it seems (gears in a background that looks like clock tower)

The sprites are well animated and smooth. Some are recognizable from previous titles (Purple squid and the ghost hoodie sprites) No frame drops, obviously, and the character models blend well with the game. Though some characters seem rather odd like a robot using a jet propeller (surprise after you beat it) as legs or a stone face with a city on its head, I mean they work well with the game but they work well enough. The chicken is always the most lively of the game when it’s spinning and flapping in the middle bottom of the screen when playing against the cpu or player. 

Cutscenes are rather short but beautifully animated. From Bubs interacting with them one way or another, usually from curiosity to joy, fear, stunned or confusion. This is rather cute when playing along the arcade vs cpu.  The credits is also cute with characters looking like their bubble bobsled sprites

One last thing. Whenever you pause a game and leave it alone for a set time, a screen saver appears. It differs from colorful psx looking rectangles moving in a 3D black space to bubbles with Bub and a squid, as examples, that’s pretty cool as a way for the game not to burn the image onto the tv or have it as a background when not playing. 

Graphics are an 9 out of 10. Beautiful 2D sprites and well animated. Love the aesthetic but backgrounds, even though they’re gorgeous they seem to be compressed a bit on the PlayStation. The idle screensaver sold me. Though is someone knows about the porcupine looking character that I can’t seem to find in the game, let me know. 

Sound : 9

I love the music. This is one of the best parts of the game. The music represents the game so well and there are some favorites among them. From a carnival jovial tune to a more upbeat energetic song, heck even the iconic stage music is present with a more tropical feel to it (for me at least). 

Sound effects are also done well without much or any compression. From the bubbles being shot to the gears moving when aiming, and even when the dropping the bubbles the effects sound crisp. With that even the audio sounds great. I don’t understand what they’re saying other than “Ka ramba” or whatever but hey, can’t hate on how well they sound. 

With this I did found some muffled audio when playing the game. When you win a match or a stage, the win music starts playing and it sounds compressed. The “Ready, Go” also has this issue but I think that’s the only issues. 

Sound is a 9 out of 10. Iconic music, audio is great with some compressed sounds. Heck even got one song as my ringtone. 

Depth : 8

The game has a bit to show. I mean yes it’s a puzzle game nonetheless but it works out well for what it offers. The game is about shooting bubbles to its corresponding colored bubbles to pop them out and clear the stage. Depending on the mode you have different objectives.

Puzzle mode is the classic mode for the game. You pop bubbles of three or more to clear out the stage. Once all the bubbles are gone, the stage is complete. If you clear 3+ of the same bubbles and different colors are hanging on to those popped, they also fall down (with a few exceptions). With puzzle mode you also encounter some special bubbles. One bubble sparkles as it destroys every color of a bubble you shot touching the spark. A black bubble doesn’t pop and only be able to fall down when it’s not hanging on to others or a wooden square that prevents any bubbles to fall. A dark grey ball is used to destroy any bubbles that is in its path, one of the best bubble power up there is in the game. You lose when the bubbles pass the yellow line above your head. The ending seems so left field though. 

Arcade mode is 12 stages of you facing characters. The goal is to pop bubbles and beat your opponents by popping 3+ bubbles to create a bunch of bubbles to disrupt their chances of winning. You win by the bubbles crossing past the yellow line that’s above their head. Simple yes? Not really as they can also disrupt you by doing the same and you lose once a bubble crosses the yellow line above your head. 

Then you have the classic vs player which is basically a best two out of three against you and a friend. Same concept as arcade mode where first one to have a bubble cross the line loses. 

Time attack is basically going through one ten stages and get the best time out of solving puzzles and beating the record. Not much but a good way to have some competitive fun with yourself.

Though when playing the game I realized that there is a hidden mode called “another world” which requires putting inputs at the select screen, a green clothed person shows up on the bottom right (final boss) and when selecting puzzle mode, it will say “Another world” and the stages are redesigned to be harder with the original “Puzzle Bobble” as its background. That’s pretty cool. To get the code, you must beat puzzle mode. 

Overall the depth is an 8 out of 10. The game modes are decent. Same premise but different rules, and it’s not a game that gets dull quickly. 

Difficulty : 8

This game is varied with difficulty. Some stages are pretty easy while others are rather difficult. Your default credits is 6 but you can have up to 9 credits, more if you know the cheat which I’m not sharing. 

Puzzle mode, not much to say as you traverse through the game with up to 30 stages, most going through the alphabet and the farther you go, the harder it gets. The game does offer a line of sight whenever you lose so you know where to shoot whenever you get a game over and restart the stage. With Another World mode on it can get very difficult at times and you must need to have precise aiming and calculations at times. 

Arcade mode, jeez. Arcade mode also has three difficulties. Well two and a practice mode. With practice mode you do three stages with two different characters then the third character is the first opponent of normal/hard. It does offer a line of sight that helps you learn how to bounce off walls and show where you’re aiming at. Normal and hard are basically the twelve stages with their difficulty adjusted. At first you think the game will be easy until the third stage. Let me tell you, I feel like I was being cheated by the game. She was one of the most difficult and worst stages I’ve ever played and it keeps eating my quarters. This seriously frustrated me to the point I was going to quit and not even do this review. I had to persevere and every time I beat her, I have no credits left no matter how much credits I adjusted on the settings. I felt like this is intentional and it left a sour taste in my mouth. After the third stage, things gotten easier, I mean yeah it’s still difficult but the third stage man, that seriously ruined me greatly. 

Difficulty is an 8 out of 10. Puzzle mode gives a fun challenge and keeps it fun. Arcade mode on the other hand… if you can beat the third stage without losing all your credits, you can beat this game. One of the worst experiences I’ve ever dealt with on a video game. 

Addictive : 9

This game is pretty fun. The graphics, the characters and visuals is eye catching and the gameplay is easy to understand. I lost about 6 hours playing and understanding the game and only had a few instances where I had to drop the controller down. Most of it is due to frustration on the third stage of vs cpu but after that I’ve had a great time playing the game. 

Addictive is a 9 out of 10. Love the game, love the aesthetics, it’s a great game for the PlayStation. 

Overall this is a pretty good game. I loved every bit of it, the stages are creative, the bubbles well placed. The shooting is accurate for the most part and the characters each had a personality. This game is a great sequel the games before it and I can see why I was so fascinated by it back in the day when I was first introduced to the game. This is one worth playing on the PlayStation console, as I’m not sure about the N64 how similar or different the game is compared to its competitor back in its day. It’s a game to play when you want a peaceful experience and ignore the third stage for the love of god unless you’re decent. 

My rating to the game : 8.5 out of 10

Review rating to the game : 8.6 out of 10 (dang higher than my rating.)

Firstly, epic review man! I've got some nostalgia punches just reading through. I totally remember playing Bust-A-Move back in the day and dude, the memories.

Alright, about the story part – I kinda remember some talk around the whole "why the stars got stolen" thing, but dang, my memory's super foggy. Maybe it was just one of those quirky plot holes that never really got filled, or maybe I just never paid enough attention, lol. The '90s gaming, right?

Graphics and sound, totally with you there. Those bubbly chibi characters and the whole color burst in the game was just so dope! And yeah, I think I remember that porcupine-looking thing you mentioned. Dunno if it was from another Taito game or something but I remember scratching my head about it back then.

On the music, 100% with you! The carnival tune and all those fun bops are still stuck in my head, no joke.

Now that third stage in Arcade mode? Dude, I feel your pain! That level was a total nightmare for me too. Spent a stupid amount of time (and imaginary quarters, haha) on it. But after that hurdle, it was smooth-ish sailing.

Overall, I think your review's pretty spot on. Woulda given it around the same rating, maybe a tad higher just 'cause of nostalgia bias, lol. Great job on the detailed breakdown, and seriously, thanks for the trip down memory lane.

P.S. Someone pls help both of us with that porcupine mystery. It's gonna bug me now.

It has been a while since I have played this game and I might have this confused with another Bust a move also known as Puzzle Bobble games.

I want to think Droink the michevous elf decided to steal the stars in attempt to rule the world. The only way to get the stars back is to defeat him and conquer puzzles. Again I might have it confused with another puzzle Bobble game.

Bust a Move or Puzzle Bobble games are fun to play. This one I remembering being fun.

If your looking for another fun one to play. Bust a Move 99 is also very fun. That is the one I have played the most. I still play it to this very day. These games are addicting

tornadocam : I mean I actually tried looking online to see if there was a story and playing the game was kind of vague itself. I mean it makes much more sense now that he was trying to steal stars for ruling the world but why the stars? He is the final boss after all.

what’s strikes me the most is this character in the game I couldn’t find at all when playing. I’m trying to figure out what it is. Is it a cut character or?
The orange hedgehog with a bow tie and mischievous smile in the crayon background
https://ibb.co/NCWNdd5